Yesterday afternoon Judge Amos Mazzant, who sits in the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing new overtime exemption rules issued in May of this year that were set to go into effect on December 1. The action was in a case brought by the attorneys general of 22 states, and also saw amicus briefs from numerous third parties interested in the issue.

While the order is not a final one - as your O'Connor's tells you a preliminary injunction is followed by a permanent injunction which is decided under a different standard - the order of denial is immediately appealable to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and after that potentially to the U.S. Supreme Court. There are also numerous variables depending on what Congress or the incoming administration decides to do on this issue.

If you're advising a client on what to do in this area, you could do worse than read this summary by Seyfarth Shaw's wage & hour litigation group explaining just how confused this area now is.

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Yesterday afternoon Judge Amos Mazzant, who sits in the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing new overtime exemption rules issued in May of this year that were set to go into effect on December 1. The action was in a case brought by the attorneys general of 22 states, and also saw amicus briefs from numerous third parties interested in the issue.

While the order is not a final one - as your O'Connor's tells you a preliminary injunction is followed by a permanent injunction which is decided under a different standard - the order of denial is immediately appealable to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and after that potentially to the U.S. Supreme Court. There are also numerous variables depending on what Congress or the incoming administration decides to do on this issue.

If you're advising a client on what to do in this area, you could do worse than read this summary by Seyfarth Shaw's wage & hour litigation group explaining just how confused this area now is.